Rotorua and arrival in Wellington!

So today is my birthday and I've woken up rediculously early here. Not sure why, must spring from that giddiness you get as a kid when it's your birthday. Anyway, I had a wonderful "Adventure week" in Rotorua with the Australearn gang. We landed in Auckland and then took a bus the next day into Rotorua which is a little south east of Auckland. The first day we learned the Haka and performed it with full costume and makeup (the boys were a little cold!). For all my rugby friends, yes I can be as fierce as the all blacks before their game! We also took a tour of a Maori village called Whakarewarewa (Wh-pronounced with a "f" sound). It was amazing because their people live almost completely sustainably on the geothermal activity that occurs right in the village. There were beautiful boiling pools and awesome natural steam vents or "Maori microwaves" they like to call them, that produce as much heat as a conventional oven. This is where they cook most of their food. They also use the pools to filter water into baths where they communally bathe twice a day. We were invited, but there was little enthusiasm about this from the rest of the group. This day was primarily to get acquainted with the community and so we helped the village by clearing some of their paths of invasive plants. It was really beautiful because we "weeded" (some of the plants were as big as me!) overlooking the whole village with the steam vents and rolling hills all around. After all of this we were fed a traditional Hangi meal, which consisted of delicious earth cooked meat pies and corn that was boiled in the boiling pools--awesome!

The next day I went white water rafting down the Kaituna river. THIS WAS AWESOME! We had to put on wetsuits (which were especially nice because they were wet when we put them on... im being sarcastic, it was really hilarious and pretty smelly haha). Anyway, it was really cold and the water was even colder, but with the suits on we were all fine. We went down a 21 foot waterfall that was redicoulous and a bunch of other sweet rapids. It was so pretty down there too, very jungle-y. Only my friend Andrea fell off, but I'm pretty sure that was one of the guide's goals for our run down the river. This is my favorite activity for the whole week, I think I'd do it everyday if I could.

On our last day we went caving in Waitomo which was also really sweet. We arrived where the caves were on this woman's farm and it was just tons of rolling bright green hills with a ton of sheep grazing (possibly my ideal place to live if I had a bajillion dollars). Anyway we kind of walked down this deep slope and there was the entrance to the cave nestled in this hill. We repeled down a ways and then walked and ziplined through the caves. It was so neat because on top of all the cool stalagmites, tites, and straws, there were really cool fossilized seashells and other plant matter all over the walls. Really gave you a sense of how old our earth really is.

Okay this is getting long, but finally we got up at the crack of dawn and took a flight to Wellington. All I did was stare out the window on the plane because everything was SO beautiful! Basically we got to circle Wellington and we were all really giddy and excited to find our new homes! My apartment is called Wai-te-ata and is up on one of the hills overlooking the city. I would have a really rockin view if only this cool, but darn tree weren't in the way! The apartment is so much bigger than I expected and really fun! They thought I was a boy, so currently I am sharing a bathroom with a 27 year old German guy named Moritz. I am also living with a girl who's name is Lena who is also from Germany. They are both really sweet and really enjoy that I'm American it seems like. I might actually leave here with a German accent, haha. The city is beautiful so far and it feels like I am climbing a mountain every time I come back to my apartment from the city, it is SO HIGH UP!

Hope all is well and I'll update again soon=))

Dressed up for the haka lesson

Rotorua lake

White water rafting